Mr. Steven Truong, CEO of VinBrain, stated that the DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer solution, which incorporates AI, has helped many patients in Vietnam receive curative treatment by detecting and addressing early, leaving no room for oversight.
During the announcement and award ceremony of the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024 on the evening of February 1, 2024, as part of the 4th ASEAN Ministerial Conference, VinBrain's DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer won the Gold award in the Digital Innovation category. Why did VinBrain choose to participate in the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024?
Firstly, Vietnamese companies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, are still facing the challenge of proving their capabilities on the international stage. We are well aware of this, and we consider the ASEAN Digital Awards as a valuable opportunity for VinBrain to represent not only as an individual entity but also as a representative of the progress in the technology industry in Vietnam.
Secondly, our groundbreaking product, DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer, won the Gold Award at the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024. It is not just a practical application but also evidence of high-quality research. Publications in top global scientific journals such as Nature serve as solid proof of the uniqueness and breakthrough nature of the product. We have successfully implemented the product in major hospitals both within and outside the country. DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer is a clear testament to the connection between research and real-world application, a factor highly appreciated by the ASEAN Digital Awards.
Thirdly, VinBrain has demonstrated its capabilities by winning the Gold Award in the Social Responsibility category at this competition in 2021. This achievement is not only a source of pride for us but also evidence of the continuous innovation and creativity within the research and technology development community in Vietnam.
We are pursuing the vision of becoming a leading company in healthcare technology in Southeast Asia. Participating in the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024 is not only about VinBrain seeking recognition but also a crucial step towards realizing our vision, bringing us closer to our target customers in the region.
VinBrain aims to expand its presence in markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and beyond. The award serves as a significant leverage, helping us attract attention and trust from the international community, creating favorable conditions for VinBrain's new advancements.
At the ASEAN Digital Awards, besides VinBrain, three other Vietnamese businesses also received awards, and this year marks the first time the Vietnamese delegation has achieved the highest performance. How does the Ministry of Information and Communications support VinBrain when participating in the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024, sir?
The Ministry of Information and Communications takes the lead in organizing the preliminary round of the ASEAN Digital Awards in Vietnam, playing a crucial role in selecting quality and unique products to represent Vietnam in international competitions. Through the screening and evaluation processes conducted by the Ministry, only products with genuine value and positive impacts on the community and society are chosen to advance to the next round.
This not only enhances the transparency and quality of the awards but also provides VinBrain and other competitors with an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities and contributions in the field of artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Information and Communications plays a significant role in guiding and advising participating companies in selecting categories and competition areas that optimize the potential and likelihood of winning, aligning with the specific characteristics of each submitted product.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has facilitated and acted as a bridge between businesses, technology startups, and reputable regional platforms such as the ASEAN Digital Awards.
What societal issue does the solution chosen by VinBrain for the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024 address?
Looking at the entry list of the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024, it's evident that most companies opt for fields such as finance, education, business management, etc. However, the healthcare sector, especially in cancer specialty, is particularly rare. We proactively chose a unique product to participate in this field and are confident in the comprehensive solution it provides.
The statistics on the incidence and mortality of liver cancer (The survival rate of liver cancer patients within 5 years is the lowest among various diseases, around less than 20%. The incidence of liver cancer in Vietnam is even higher than lung cancer) made us realize the urgency and importance of seeking a breakthrough solution to tackle this challenge.
By participating in the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024, we intend to raise awareness within society and the community about combating this perilous disease. We understand that for victory in this battle, support and concern from the community are crucial. This award serves as an opportunity to amplify our impact in the fight against cancer, create awareness, enhance deployment capabilities, and provide equal access to the healthcare system everywhere and at all times through the DrAid™ platform.
How does VinBrain's solution differentiate itself from existing market offerings?
The most distinctive feature of DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer is that it is one of the few pioneering solutions in the world capable of early screening for small lesions (as small as 5mm) located on the liver thanks to the application of the most advanced machine learning technologies.
The solution achieves very high specificity and sensitivity, as evidenced by the Dice coefficient for liver segmentation (96.55%) and the Dice coefficient for tumor segmentation (74.47%), significantly exceeding the interobserver agreement among radiologists (around 60%).
Secondly, the incorporation of cutting-edge image processing technologies significantly enhances the accuracy of the solution. Among these, novel methods such as the use of radiomics in the wavelet domain, pioneered by VinBrain's applied science team, contribute to diversifying the representation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cancer cell tissue— the most malignant liver lesion. This breakthrough has been published in the scientific journal Nature.
Globally, analyzing multi-phase CT images for liver lesions and tumors presents a unique challenge due to the inherent variability between phases. DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer from VinBrain stands out as one of the few solutions capable of tackling this complexity. Its key advantage lies in leveraging advanced image processing to extract a wealth of information from these images. This not only enhances diagnostic accuracy, but also eliminates the risk of lesion missing. Furthermore, DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer goes beyond mere segmentation with its comprehensive AI-driven analysis. It classifies lesions into four distinct categories: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), other malignant tumors, benign lesions, and ambiguous lesions. Beyond that, it provides the size and location of each lesion, performs hepatic segments, and visualize vascularity system. This detailed information empowers physicians not just for diagnosis, but also for crafting personalized treatment plans.
To achieve commercialization in the US market and obtain FDA approval, VinBrain is currently collaborating with American radiologists and prestigious universities like Stanford. This collaboration aims to acquire high-quality labeled medical data from US patients.
How has VinBrain implemented this solution in Vietnam, and what has been its effectiveness, sir?
In Vietnam, the DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer solution is currently being piloted at the University Medicine Center Ho Chi Minh City, where VinBrain has a long-standing collaboration with the radiologists. The product is also being piloted at the Central Hospital of Hue, which is also a frontline hospital.
The pilot program at the hospitals is a two-way process that allows the VinBrain team to continue to refine and improve the solution. In fact, liver cancer imaging cases are very diverse. Thanks to the continuous feedback from the real-world cases read by the radiologists, the algorithm of DrAid™ CT Liver Cancer is constantly optimized. Moreover, the product also receives updates on the latest liver cancer treatment knowledge from the world from various sources, such as the company's team and especially from the radiologists who use it daily, so that the solution is always practical and in sync with them.
Could you elaborate on VinBrain's vision for the future of this technology?
VinBrain's next objective is to aggressively push for the commercialization of this solution in Vietnam, across Southeast Asia, and further reach North America and Europe.In the immediate future, the focus lies in getting more hospitals within Vietnam to recognize the superior value this AI-powered solution offers. This directly benefits both doctors and patients battling liver cancer, by enabling early detection, preventing missed lesions, and ultimately leading more patients to receive curative treatment. This holds even greater significance considering liver cancer remains the number one cause of mortality in Vietnam. Additionally, a wider user base fosters a faster and more robust maturation of the product, resulting in consistently higher quality and increased suitability for Vietnamese patients. Furthermore, the solution is built with long-term sustainability in mind, aiming to alleviate doctor workload by employing AI to reduce image reading time from 30 minutes to a mere 5 minutes. This envisions a future where patients no longer face lengthy wait times for examinations and re-examinations.
Between 2024 and 2026, VinBrain plans to expand its reach to Southeast Asia, where liver patients share many similarities with their Vietnamese counterparts in terms of lifestyle, cultural practices, and biological characteristics.
Currently, the solution is undergoing approval review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for deployment within the US market, following the success of DrAid™ Imaging Diagnosis v1. With anticipated success in the US, we will then turn our sights on conquering Europe, ultimately bringing this Vietnamese-born technology to benefit even more patients worldwide.
Thank you!
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